Colorado Rockies: A look at the Hall of Fame case for Todd Helton

What about his numbers outside of Coors Field?

In just looking at the stat OPS, which is on-base percentage and slugging percentage added together, at Coors Field, Helton’s average was a staggering 1.048 for his career. If that were his total OPS for his entire career (home and road), only three players in the Hall of Fame would be better than Helton.

Their names are Babe Ruth (1.164), Ted Williams (1.116), and Lou Gehrig (1.080).

However, on the road, his OPS was .850.

Stop the presses. His OPS was 200 points lower on the road. “Don’t let that man in the Hall of Fame!” –A BBWAA voter, probably.

But on closer inspection, that is still a very high number. The average Hall of Famer’s total OPS is .841. If Helton were to be inducted, three guys directly below him would be Orlando Cepeda, Tony Gwynn, and Reggie Jackson. Just above him would be Billy Williams, Jim Rice, and Al Kaline.

Overall, though, his career OPS is .953. That puts him at 19th all time.

Here’s a breakdown of the 18 ahead of him: 12 are Hall of Famers, 2 are currently playing, 3 aren’t in because steroid allegations (Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, and Mark McGwire), and the only other one…is another former Rockie in Larry Walker (but his Hall of Fame case is another examination soon).

The four players below him are Jeff Bagwell (HOFer), Mel Ott (HOFer), Miguel Cabrera (still active but he’ll be a HOFer five years after he retires), and Ralph Kiner (HOFer).

So, now that we have proven that Helton is a Hall of Famer on the offensive front, let’s look at his defense.

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Obviously, he was very good offensively but, defensively, he also did very well.

He won a Gold Glove award three different times but that, quite honestly, doesn’t mean a whole lot. For example, Derek Jeter won a total of five Gold Gloves…and by Defensive Runs Saved, he is the worst fielder in all of baseball (regardless of position) since the stat was created in 2002…by 60 percent over the next worst fielder, who is, coincidentally Prince Fielder.

But for Helton, though, the numbers back up the awards (particularly in his first and last seasons in winning the Gold Glove).

In combining Helton’s Total Zone, or TZ (which is the main stat used to quantify fielding prior to 2002), and Defensive Runs Saved, or DRS (which was created just before the 2002 season), was at 61 TZ/DRS and 0 is league average.

Now, this isn’t to say that defense is really something that is looked at to the magnitude of offense (because Derek Jeter will waltz into the Hall of Fame next year because of his offense and his performances in October/November). But for Helton, is something that, if a voter is on the fence about him being a Hall of Famer, it could be something that puts him over the top.

Final Thoughts

Since balloting started, it is obviously hard to gauge where Helton will finish up on the balloting (he is on 3 of the 7 ballots made public, entering Tuesday morning). Personally, I would not bet that he will make it in this season and I would, quite frankly, be shocked if he gets more than 50 percent of the vote.

Whether it’s because ignorance, stupidity, or just a hatred for Coors Field, it’s a sad reality for Rockies fans and anybody that dons a Rockies uniform that they will likely not sniff the Hall of Fame unless something drastic changes.